Do you remember the European Constitution? Yes, the one rejected
by the French and Dutch? That same European Constitution on which the
Labour Government promised the British people a referendum before the
last General Election?

Well, it's back with a vengeance. Like some old Hammer horror movie,
the constitution has returned from the dead, now repackaged as a 'treaty'.

But the so-called 'new' EU Treaty has all the same ingredients as the
old constitution. In fact, it was revealed yesterday that it is 96 per
cent identical to the old constitution.

And so the response to this newly repackaged threat to British freedom
and independence must be exactly the same: a referendum to give the
people the final word.

As usual, our politicians in Westminster have woken up late to the
full significance of the 16-page mandate that Tony Blair signed with
a flourish at his swansong EU summit last month.

In contrast, the speed with which the Eurocrats have moved to head
off any British objection to their power-grab has astonished political
observers more accustomed to the leisurely habits of Brussels.

Over the years the EU, aided and abetted by our own Foreign Office,
has given the impression that the process of what it terms 'pooling'
sovereignty is inevitable. But the EU's notion of 'pooling' is suspiciously
similar to what will actually renounce all individual sovereignty.

So, while our fresh-faced Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, was in
Brussels on Monday to launch the Intergovernmental Conference that will
decide the exact wording of the new treaty, the first stirrings of resistance
could be heard in London.

William Hague, who has done a good job of stiffening David Cameron's
backbone on Europe, gave a speech yesterday in which he renewed the
call to 'trust the people' with a referendum on the new treaty. The
Tories seem to have woken up to their duty to defend British democracy.

Similarly, the Commons European scrutiny committee has belatedly sounded
the alarm at the proposed wording of the treaty that purports to tell
the British Parliament what to do. The treaty text reads: 'National
parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the
Union.'

Rightly, the committee is worried that these words would be interpreted
by unelected European judges to force our elected representatives to
put the interests of the EU above those of the member states. Parliament
would be reduced to the status of a regional assembly.

Such a loss of parliamentary sovereignty is incompatible with Gordon
Brown's promise to restore Parliament to its past glory. But even if
Mr Brown tries to renegotiate the draft text to neuter its proposed
powers, other member states will try to block him.

And the more closely the Prime Minister examines the text of the proposed
treaty he has inherited from Mr Blair, the more worried he should be.
Apart from a few trivial changes in wording - instead of a European
Foreign Minister, for example, we will have a 'High Representative'
- the treaty incorporates virtually the entire constitution.

On defence and foreign affairs, for example, it reads: 'The Union's
competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover
all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union's
security.'

Meaning that its explicit aim is a common EU defence policy that would
undermine Parliament's right to decide when to go to war: a centrepiece
of Mr Brown's programme of legislation.

It is the same story across the entire spectrum covered by the treaty,
from immigration to the environment. Out goes the free market and in
comes the 'social market economy, aiming at full employment and social
progress, with a high level of protection'.

If anyone doubts this treaty is simply the old discredited constitution
under another name, they need only listen to an architect of the constitution,
former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.

He has admitted that the changes made were 'few and far between, and
more cosmetic than real'. The term 'constitution' was dropped simply
to 'make a few people happy'.

This time, not content with allowing other member states to accelerate
the creation of the superstate, the treaty would let the EU kick out
countries that rock the boat. It isn't hard to guess which nation the
gentlemen in Brussels have in mind.

Britain still sees its role in the world very differently from its
Continental neighbours. For all the bonhomie between Mr Brown and President
Nicolas Sarkozy at their meeting in Paris last week, the British and
the French do not see eye to eye on Europe.

Mr Sarkozy has no intention of giving his voters a chance to reject
the treaty for a second time. Nor does the Dutch prime minister, Jan
Peter Balkenende, who has ruled out such a vote.

So this time Mr Brown will not be able to rely on continental voters
to save him the trouble of holding a referendum. If the British don't
want to be part of a European superstate, they will have to force their
leaders to grant them a vote.

That is why Mr Hague's speech was so vital. Unless at least one of
our major parties is serious about a referendum, it is not going to
happen.

But if Mr Hague can rally the Tories behind the cross-party campaign
for a referendum, then it will acquire the momentum it needs to force
the Government to give the people a say.

After all, we have come to a crossroads in our relations with the EU.
This treaty marks the point of no return - the point at which the British
must decide who they are.

Do they wish to be submerged in what the EU Commission President JosÈ
Manuel Barroso calls the 'empire' of Europe? Or do they want to continue
as an independent nation state?

The leader who dares to tell us the truth about the choice we face
on Europe will transform the political landscape. If David Cameron were
to put half as much effort into the referendum campaign as he does into
more modish causes, he might soon restore some of his flagging fortunes.

We should be grateful to William Hague for putting the issue back at
the centre of Westminster debate.

While Europe may not be a fashionable issue, like climate change or
poverty in Africa, it is the key to all the others. Once Britain has
lost the power to control its own destiny, it won't matter what other
policies future governments adopt.

Already up to 70 per cent of our legislation comes from the EU. Unless
this treaty is stopped, the nation that gave freedom, democracy and
the rule of law to the world will wake up to find that it has forfeited
all three.

It takes a statesman to tell people things that they do not want to
hear. In 1941 Winston Churchill told the Commons the British people
are 'unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be
told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst'.

Whatever Euro-fanatics may say about him, Churchill's instincts and
actions were those of a British patriot - one of the greatest who ever
lived.

Our leaders should follow his example, and come clean with the electorate
about the extent to which the powers delegated to them by the people
have been lost to Europe - before the loss becomes irrevocable.